After mastering part of Danzō's memories, Kei immediately created two shadow clones.
One of the clones used the Transformation Jutsu to take on Danzō's appearance, replacing him in front of Tatsuma and the second squad captain to handle the Root's complex affairs.
The other clone, acting with utmost respect toward Danzō, officially began taking over the various duties required of the Vice Director.
Meanwhile, Kei himself continued to dig deeper into Danzō's memories.
Countless hidden secrets of the shinobi world were unveiled before his eyes.
It took a full two days.
He finally went through Danzō's decades' worth of memories completely. During these two days, he preliminarily re-bound the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, which was tied to the key department heads of Root, to himself instead of Danzō.
However, the department heads were only a small portion of Root's members. Over the past decades, under Hiruzen's leadership, Danzō had developed Root into a massive and powerful organization.
According to Kei's estimation, without at least a month or two, it would be impossible to fully replace the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seals of all Root members. Especially those spies and sleeper agents who had been dispatched to other ninja villages.
Unless they were all recalled immediately, tracking them down in a short time would be nearly impossible!
"So, he still can't die?"
Kushina's face was full of dissatisfaction as she poked Danzō's body repeatedly with a small wooden stick.
Two days without food or water, combined with the forced memory extraction—Danzō was already in an extremely weakened state. His entire body was covered in bruises from the relentless poking of the wooden stick.
Kushina had thoroughly carried out her previous thought: making sure there wasn't a single spot on his body left unharmed!
"I misjudged… You will become the new Root of Konoha. The shadow of Root will cover the entire village! Even the Hokage will bow before this darkness! Hahaha—" Danzō's weak voice carried an unmistakable madness and fervor.
All of his past resentment and unwillingness seemed to have vanished, replaced by excitement at the thought of Root's future.
"Not being able to die doesn't mean he gets to live well." Kei stomped on Danzō's face, completely unmoved by his words.
Wasn't this just another attempt to survive first and find a chance to make a comeback later?
After reading all of Danzō's memories, he knew everything about the man—even down to how far he could pee. There was no way he'd fall for such tricks.
"Huh? Then what should we do?" Kushina pried Kei's foot away and started poking Danzō's head again with the stick.
Since he could still talk, there must still be some unharmed flesh left!
"Stop playing around. Go outside for a bit—I'll perform a little technique on him."
Kei formed a hand seal, using Yin Release and memory extraction techniques to open a mental gap, forcibly erasing Danzō's memories.
Kushina obediently left the underground chamber, full of curiosity.
"I won't let you—" Danzō's face twisted in pain as unbearable agony erupted in his mind.
However, in the next moment, the excruciating pain exceeded his limits, triggering his body's self-protection mechanism. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out instantly.
Kei felt no pity for Danzō whatsoever.
Without hesitation, he erased every single one of Danzō's memories!
Then, from his own memory palace, he carefully selected terrifying images from his previous life, infused them with spiritual energy, and implanted them into Danzō's mind.
Once the memory modification was complete, he formed another hand seal, and his left hand gathered chakra into a scalpel.
With the medical ninjutsu from [Euphoria Healing], he began reconstructing Danzō's face. Paired with the continuous healing effects of Medical Water Release: Jellyfish,
It took less than half an hour.
Danzō's aging face had transformed into that of a handsome middle-aged man. As the loose skin on his body, which had begun sagging with age, was adjusted under Kei's exquisite medical skills, his appearance was now in line with his newly rejuvenated face.
Watching Danzō's body continuously convulsing under the side effects of [Euphoria Healing], Kei's expression remained indifferent.
After reviewing all of Danzō's memories, the fact that he hadn't sliced this guy into tiny pieces was already a proof to his immense restraint. Everything that happened to him from now on would be well-deserved!
Kei grabbed Danzō's blood-soaked hair, dug out his Sharingan, replaced it with an ordinary pair of eyes, and even gave him a new hairstyle.
With a flicker of his figure, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport Danzō to a remote corner of Konoha.
Without hesitation, he tossed the now completely naked man into a trash heap.
At that moment, the system notification chimed in.
---
[Significant alteration to a major antagonist's fate.]
[The worldline has deviated.]
[Obtained:
- 1 concept trait extraction
- 1 random trait upgrading (Blue)
- 1 trait extraction
- 1 trait reset]
---
Immediately after, the effect of [Fate Weaver] activated. The fate energy that originally surrounded Danzō began dissipating rapidly.
Kei could clearly feel, under the effect of the trait, this fate energy was being absorbed and converted into luck energy, which then swiftly merged into his body.
As he glanced at the green aura around him, now even stronger than before, his mood, which had slightly improved due to the system's rewards, immediately plummeted again.
He couldn't even provide a blue-grade luck boost.
Tch—
Muttering in frustration, he disappeared in a flash, returning to the underground chamber. Using his barely proficient Fire Release, he carefully burned away all traces of evidence.
After working for a while and confirming there were no clues left behind, he finally shifted his focus to the system interface in his mind.
---
[Host: Yamanaka Kei]
[Career: Ninja]
[Active Traits: Transmigrator (Red), Zero-Frame Start (Red), Sage Body (Red), Yin Release Mastery (Purple), Water Release Mastery (Purple), Spatial Insight (Purple), Handsome (Blue), Memory Master of the Shinobi World (Blue), Silent Walker (Blue), Euphoria Healing (Blue), Fate Weaver (Blue), Battle of Misfortune (Black)]
[Inactive Traits: Stealthy Crawler (White), Fragile Yet Tenacious (White), One Pregnancy, Nine Babies (Blue), Nothing to His Name (Gray), Complete Childhood (Gray), Seductive Acrobatics (White)]
[Trait Gifting: 7]
[Trait Duplication: 1]
[Trait Extraction: 2]
[Trait Downgrade: 2]
[Trait Upgrade (Blue, Random): 1]
[Trait Extraction (Concept): 1]
[Trait Reset: 1]
---
Tch, another blue trait… nothing to get excited about. Kei sighed inwardly.
After carefully weighing how to maximize his benefits, he decided to use the concept trait extraction first.
---
[Obtained:
- Invisible Execution Slash (Blue)]
[Invisible Execution Slash (Blue):
A lifetime of dedication to the way of the sword has allowed you to brush against an unknown domain. When delivering any form of slash to a target, there is a small probability of triggering this power, randomly severing one of the target's "heads." Additionally, when using bladed weapons, proficiency, power, and speed are enhanced.]
---
Wait… 'heads'?? What kind of head are we talking about here?
Kei stared at the system's vague description, his mind already conjuring various possibilities. He couldn't help but suspect the worst.
It wasn't paranoia—it was experience. The system had been unreliable far too many times. With a probability-based ability like this, the actual chance of activation was probably close to zero!